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Immigration to Germany |
Introduction
For decades Germany wasn't important as a land of immigration. However,
there has been immigration since the existence of the Federal Republic of
Germany. Since 1954 31 million people with German ancestors and foreigners have
moved to Germany, 22 million people have moved out of Germany at the same
time. After World War II millions of people who were expelled from their
homes and refugees from the East and later from the German Democratic
Republic (GDR), came to Germany. Especially the highly qualified people
were easily accepted by the West-German job market.
For many years
late resettlers and Jewish refugees have been coming from the area of the
former USSR. Germany accepts asylum seekers, refugees from war or civil
war for humanitarian reasons temporarily or even for a longer time.
Thousands of immigrants study at German universities. In agriculture, at
building sites and in the hotel- and catering trade season labour from the
adjoining middle-European countries help out temporarily. There are also
about 500.000 to one million illegal immigrants, who work in the "shadow
business" and have to consider the fact that they can be sent back to
their home countries.
1. Foreigners in Germany
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About 7.3 million foreigners live in Germany. These are nine percent
of the whole population. The biggest movements took place from 1991 to
1998, as 8.8 million people came to Germany from foreign countries.
Immigration increased mostly because of the rising immigration of late
emigrant settlers as well as civil-war refugees from the former USSR
and the labour immigrants from non EU countries. Most of the refugees
have left Germany again. |
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2. Foreigners split up into nationalities
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With more than two million people the Turkish represent the biggest
foreign ethnic group living in Germany. However, the EU foreigners also
represent a big part with nearly two million, whereas the 600.000 people
of other European countries, apart from Jugoslavia, are not really
relevant. Nearly 2 million people from Serbia and former Jugoslavia live
in Germany today. About 1.5 million foreigners from other continents live
here. |
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3. EU-foreigners split up into nationalities
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If one splits up the group of EU-foreigners, one can see that Italy has
the biggest part with about 600.000 people, which is 33,1%. In second
position there is Greece with about 350.000 people (19,6%) and the third
is Austria with about 200.000 people (10%). The other EU-states aren't
that important, because they have only nearly 40% altogether. |
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4. Foreigners without a permission of residence
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In Germany there are many immigrants without a permission of residence.
In 1985 there were approximately 35.000 foreigners without this required
permission. In 1997 the Federal Bureau of Statistics estimated the number
of illegal foreigners at 139.000. |
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5. Fields of employment
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Foreigners |
Germans |
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The topic of employment shows, that there are some differences between
foreigners and the Germans. When one takes a look at the workers,
one finds out that 60,8% of foreigners and only 32% of Germans are
employed here. In contrast, there are only 29% foreign employees and
49,5% of the Germans who work as employees. On the one hand there are also
only 0,4% of foreigners who are officials and on the other hand there are
about 7,3% German officials.
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6. Development of the unemployment rate in West-Germany
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The unemployment rate in Germany has increased from about 4% in 1980 to
about 9% in 1999. The Germans altogether have always been below the
general unemployment rate of Germany. The foreigners, however, are nearly
100% above the German unemployment rate. Today about 18% of the foreigners
are out of work.
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Conclusion :
The "Green Card" for foreign
computer specialists, which was introduced last year redeemed a big
discussion about qualified labour. One wouldn't find specialists on the
German labour market. The dramatical decrease in the number of citizens
with negative effects on the social system gives the discussion about
immigration a new importance. |
Datum: 02.12.01 Fach: Englisch Jgst.:
13
Erstellt von: Isabel Schabel ; Tobias Wahl
Internetquellen:
Anlagen:
I.) Schaubild (Foreigners in Germany) II.)
Schaubild (Foreigners split up into nationalities) III.) Schaubild (EU
foreigners split up into nationalities) IV.) Schaubild (Foreigners without
a Permission of residence) V.) Schaubild (Fields of employment) VI.)
Schaubild (Development of the unemployment rate in West Germany)
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